Finally John stopped laughing and looked
at Nasir. "That's Will Scarlet...," his voice
grew a little more serious as he continued. "He will
trust and accept you in time. But he's right about one
thing... you often leave the camp." John wasn't sure
if he had any right to ask Nasir again about his reason
to leave the camp - certainly it was more likely Robin
should.

Nasir nodded he was right... he owed them an
explaination... he knelt and brushed a spot on the ground
smooth.

"You want to tell - me?" John was surprised,
then squatted at the Saracen's side.

Looking up at John he drew a circle then looked up and
pointed to the east where the sun was beginning to rise.
Next he drew a stick figure and several more circles at
different positions hoping he might see them as different
times of the day... he looked to the big man to see if he
was making sense at all.

John's brow furrowed as he tried to follow Nasir's
drawing. "Ok ... I see a circle and you pointed to
the east ... that's the sun, isn't it? And that figure -
is that you? But what about the other circles?"

Nasir frowned... how did he get him to understand he
meant them to represent different times of the day? He
pointed to the sun again... then brushed his hand across
the drawing erasing all but the lowest circle. He then
pointed to a point about directly above them and drew
another circle on the ground above the figure.

"A second circle above us... the sun above us...
the sun in the east and above us... morning and noon...
is that what you want to say... morning and noon?"
John wasn't too certain about his own skills of reading
Nasir's gestures.

Nasir nodded then pointed to the west... just above
the horizon... before drawing another circle on the
ground. Finally he drew a line behind the figure and the
sun below it indicating the setting sun.

"Evening." Once he knew what Nasir was up to
the next step was easy. "Evening," John
repeated slowly.

The Saracen nodded, a slight smile crossing his
face... it quickly faded though... the next would not be
as easy.

John slightly changed his position, stretched his
legs, then watched Nasir again.

He drew several other figures with the first then
pointed to the first sun and then himself before erasing
his first figure and redrawing it a short distance away
from the others.

John looked at the drawing and at first he didn't see
anything - he also missed Nasir's movement while staring
down to the ground. "I'm sorry - could you repeat
that?"

Nasir nodded... erasing the moved figure then redrew
it with the group, next he pointed to himself... before
pointing again at the first sun. Making sure John was
watching he once again erased the figure and redrew his a
short distance from the others.

John watched carefully, then picked up a small twig
and used it to point at the drawing. "Here's a group
of people, right? That's us, I reckon, including you ...
then you separate yourself from the group... here... and
this is the morning sun...". He struggled hard to
put all information together. "So, you want to or
you have to be alone in the morning - but why?" John
looked at Nasir searching for any sign of confirmation or
disapproval in the Saracen's face.

Nasir nodded then pointed to the four phases of the
sun he had drawn. There was only one way he could show
him why... he stood brushing the dirt from his pants and
turned to face Mecca, then he brought his hands to the
side of his head, palms forward. "Allah u
Akbar." He spoke the first line softly, then lowered
his hands and turned to John... did he understand?

John followed Nasir's hand from pointing to the four
phases of the sun, inwardly translating it as
"sunrise or early morning, noon, evening,
sunset", added "alone" to it and watched
with growing astonishment Nasir's solemn performance.
When the Saracen spoke the first words in the strange
language it reminded John of what he and Tuck had heard
the day before ...

When realization hit him, John didn't believe it at
first. The solution was too simple ... "You -
pray?"

Nasir nodded... his relief showing on his face.

John smiled and repeated still in disbelief "You
pray ... and Scarlet thought you betrayed us to the
Sheriff!" He looked at Nasir. "I will talk to
him ... make sure he won't annoy you for being alone
anymore."

"Shukran", Nasir said softly, then as an
afterthought added, "Thank... you."

"You're welcome." John found himself looking
at Nasir differently than some minutes ago. There was
more behind the man than what was obvious at first sight.
"Do you want to go through the words you drew before
we return to the camp ... in case you have to explain the
same to anyone else ?"

Nasir nodded then returned to where he had drawn on
the ground and squatted next to it.

John once more raised the twig and pointed at the
circle in the dust. "The sun", he said.

"Su..n.." Nasir repeated the word carefully.
And so they went through the words... John pointed at
each drawing, spoke the words a few times for Nasir to
listen, then the Saracen repeated them. By the time they
finished Nasir knew the times of the day, the name of the
sun and what he was doing when he needed to be alone...
praying. In John's opinion Nasir learned easily, maybe
the pronunciation sounded strange to his Nottinghamshire
ears, but he got the feeling it wouldn't take his new
friend too long to express himself in English.

"Nicely done, Nasir", he said after they had
finished. "Let's return to camp before they'll send
Scarlet again to look for us." The huge man rose,
stretched his legs once more, waited for Nasir to rise as
well and together they headed for their camp.

The
first morning

As the chill crept over the forest Robin
began to wake, he looked over the camp site and noticed
that Nasir and John were missing, he sat up, stretching.
Then thought back over the events of last night. He
looked at Marion as she was working with Much at the
fire, then stood up and walked over to her, "Mornin'
Marion, Much. Have you seen Nasir and Little John?"
Robin's eyes watched Marion, hoping she could see what
his heart felt, but after the quarrel of last night not
knowing what he in return would see.

After Will had
turned his back on Little John and Nasir, he made his way
towards the small brook that ran through the forest not
too far from their camp. Scooping the fresh water he
washed his face, then remained squatting, losing himself
to his thoughts. In his opinion Will still was right
about mistrusting the silent Saracen, but deep inside of
him there was a bewildering feeling that he might be
wrong... Nasir had stood his ground two times against him
and had not backed down facing Will's aggression. At
least he owed Nasir some respect.

Will rose and returned to their camp, where he picked
up his blanket, sat down at the far end of the clearing
and watched Robin, Marion and Much near the fire. And no
sign of Little John or Nasir...

Marion looked up into Robin's eyes and sensed the pain
that she had caused the night before. Guilt started to
ball up into her stomach and she had to turn her eyes
away from him. To her relief, Much responded to his query
about the others. Marion tried to return her attention to
the fire, but she found herself lost in thought instead.
How was she going to be a good wife to him when she felt
uncomfortable sleeping in his arms with the others
around? She was not some village wench who would lay with
a man publicly, even if it was just to sleep, this was
not the lifestyle she had grown up with. How could she
explain to him that she was not accustomed to this type
of life? It was the only life he had ever known. And what
of her duties as a wife? She never had the patience to
learn cooking and sewing, and all the other things that
women were expected to learn and be able to do. Then she
was moved to Nottingham castle, and the Sheriff didn't
care what she did, as long as it didn't interfere with
his life and the way he ran the castle.

Much finally got the fire lit, and she felt the warmth
of the fire radiate onto her face. Marion finally put the
stick that she had been using to poke at remains of the
previous fire down. But she was still deep in thought
about where she stood with these men. And what did they
all think of her? It was because of her that they had
lost their friends, and almost lost their leader. Were
they blaming her? Were they going to ask her to leave,
even though Robin had asked her to stay? She didn't want
to be a burden on them and was already afraid that they
would expect her to cook and mend for all of them. As it
was, she didn't know how to build a fire correctly, and
she was sure that Will would make a point of that later
on.

She finally looked away from the dancing flames of the
fire and her attention was drawn to the man that had
brought her here. She wasn't going to let her doubts
about how the other's felt burden her. She was sure that
they would let her know how they felt about her soon
enough, but right now they were more concerned with the
Saracen, Nasir. Marion looked back into Robin's eyes
asking for forgiveness for the night before. And with
that look, she tried to express all the doubts and fears
that she carried within her. And with that, she got up
and crossed over to where Robin was standing and stood in
front of him and slipped her hands into his.

"I am sorry", she whispered, "I had no
intention of hurting you. Can you forgive me?"

Robin looked into Marion's eyes as she asked for
forgiveness, and smiled. "You are forgiven," he
whispered as he glanced at Much. Clasping her hand in his
he motioned her over toward the shelter and brought out
the waterskin. "Marion...No, don't." He placed
his fingers on her lips as she was about to interrupt.
"This morning I thought about what had happened last
night. I think I understand what you are worried
about." Robin glanced around the campsite.
"What does it matter what they think, I love you,
that is what matters." Robin glanced at the ground
then looked at the Friar. "Marion, if Tuck agreed to
marry us, would that ease your fears? Then they could say
nothing about it. You are my wife, and I am your husband,
Let's have Tuck wed us. The way you were raised."
Robin looked over the camp at the sleeping Friar, his
brow furrowed with a thousand thoughts at once. Where
were Little John, Nasir, and Will? What kind of future is
this for a man and wife? Will Tuck marry them?